Social media as a tool to gain awareness

I post herewith a research recommending social media advertising approach to Celestica as a way of gaining patron awareness. The research consists of all the information, which the Raymond Brothers need to apprehend about social medial marketing. This include data on social media benefits, ways of the usage of social media to capture clients and the ROI Celestica will expect to obtain by enforcing this strategy.With research supplied in this paper, I am sure the Raymond Brothers will discover social media marketing an vital addition to their marketing strategy. This is because, as this file provides, social media has been implemented by means of many companies, and has proved a significant addition to their advertising strategies.Your consideration regarding social media marketing will significantly benefit the company.Sincerely,Executive SummarySocial media marketing has provided to be an important strategy for many companies. This is because, while other forms of marketing, Magazine, TV, Radio and even billboards provide companies with ways to research many people, they are very expensive. Social media, on the other hand, provide companies with a cheaper way of reaching many people. By creating Facebook page or using YouTube to advertise, companies are able to reach many people at a very low cost. This paper provides a critical perspective on social media marketing, we well as, provides detailed information on why Celestica should adopt this strategy. The paper provides significant information regarding social media benefits, ROI generated, as well as, methods that Celestica can employ on social media to gain awareness. In conclusion Celestica will gain more awareness by adopting social media campaign.Introduction“The world is transforming. We are anticipating the future and enabling our customers’ success” (Celestica, 2017). However, the world is not only transforming in terms of produce design, engineering and manufacturing, but also in terms of how these products are made known to customers. Today, many companies are forced to embrace the internet, and preferably social media due to the power it possesses. In recognition of this power, Green (2014) described social media as a technology that is “everywhere” people go, and “everything” that people see. Social media symbolized the current society is: interconnected (Green, 2014). The addition of WhatApp and other mobile social media application has helped expedite the growth of interconnectivity through social media. In terms of statistics, the use of social media platform, Instagram grew by 16% in 2016 (Johanson, 2016). By the end of 2017, the use of this social media application is expected to growth with another 11% (Johanson, 2016). Twitter and Facebook, on the other hand continues to record significant growths in terms of user base per year. In 2016, for instance, Twitter saw additional 67 million accounts being open while Facebook added 72 million more active users to their user database (Frommer and Wagner, 2017). The growth in social media use, therefore creates a perfect platform for Celestica to increase their public profile.Celestica pride itself in its advanced technology, engineering expertise and automation. In fact, these are the factors that have enable the company to acquire a significant market share, as well as, allowed the company to provide their customers with the required products at the right time. However, without proper means of increasing their awareness in this complex and dynamic world, the company’s products and services will only be known to a few customers. One of the most significant aspects of social media is that, it brings customers closer to the company without additional costs (Green, 2014). Developing a webpage dedicated to the company, for instance, allows the company’s followers and loyal fans to be engaged in the company’s activities at all times. According to Celestica (2017) website, customers not only rely on the company to look forward, but the company also rely on their consumers to understand their needs as well as develop products that suit their lifestyles. The company engages its customers by asking them the right questions and requiring feedback regarding various products. With these regards, this paper provides an insight on how Celestica can increase their awareness using social media. The two social media platforms that are recommended in this report are Facebook and Twitter due to their growth in terms of user base and diversity.What Other Companies Are DoingGain awareness in the market has been identified as an important marketing element by many companies operating in the electronic manufacturing services industry. Jabil Circuit, Inc., a close competitor to Celestica increases its market awareness by diversifying its operations (Minter, 2014). The company’s $18 billion revenue, which is acquired on an annual basis is generated from their operations, which are based in 22 countries worldwide (Minter, 2014). Being in the market for a long time has also helped Jabil Circuit to gain exposure to many customers. Currently, the company has created important affiliations with companies such as Apple, General Electric, Siemens, HP and Johnson & Johnson (Minter, 2014). Creating good relationships with customers is recognized by Jabil Circuit as one way of gaining awareness. This is in fact, the reason why companies such as Apple have always identified Jabil Circuit as their best option every time they need a company that will help them with circuitry work.Another important company to consider when it comes to market awareness is Ibiden Co. Limited. With its headquarters in Japan, Ibiden Co. has identified corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an important way of gaining awareness in the market. The responsibilities that companies take in the society has helped many companies to gain more customers (Ibiden Co., Ltd, 2012). Starbucks, for instance, is favored by many customers in the coffee chain industry due to the company’s CSR profile. The adoption also seems to benefit Ibiden significantly. In the wake of the oil shock and declining competitiveness globally in the oil market, Ibiden decided to provide customers with products that are less harmful to the environment (Ibiden Co., Ltd, 2012). As a result, the company has recorded significant increase in terms of customers, a concept that has translated to profits. Currently, Ibiden sits on top of Celestica in terms of market capitalization and net worth.Plexus Corp has also emerged a key figure in the electronics manufacturing service industry due to the company clever market awareness strategy. Similar to Jabil Circuit, Plexus Corp uses diversification and multi-location as a way of gaining market awareness. As Castaldi and Giarratana (2014) provide, diversification is considered an important strategy to gaining market awareness due to its ability to offer customers a wide range of products. Companies that employ this method, however, are required to have a vase amount of information regarding different product categories and how customers will respond to these products (Castaldi and Giarratana, 2014). Furthermore, companies that employ this strategy are required to consider where their products will gain significant market. As a result, most companies end up locating in multiple locations worldwide in search of market for their produts. The company is currently located in more than 25 countries worldwide with all its companies using their philosophy “quality and customer care” (Optimum Design Associate, 2016). Unlike Jabil Circuit, however, Plexus has focused on mid-low volume and high complexity product (Optimum Design Associate, 2016). This is a clear indication that Plexus Corp is not targeting the niche market, but rather a section of the market.The marketing awareness strategies for Jabil Circuit, Ibiden and Plexus seems to work effectively. According to data published by Morningstar Financial (2016) website, the three companies have higher market share when compared to Celestica Inc. Jabil Circuit is currently second with 4,719 million, with Ibiden third with 2,178 million caps (Financial Morningstar, 2016). Celestica is fourth, right after Plexus with 1,928 million caps (Financial Morningstar, 2016). Market capitalization has also translated to performance in the market considering Jabil Circuit’s $210 million net income, which was recorded in the second quarter of 2016 (Financial Morningstar, 2016). Surprisingly, however, Celestica Inc. managed to record $127 million net income in the same quarter, which is higher compared to Plexus $90 million and Ibiden’s -$69,460 million (Financial Morningstar, 2016). However, without an effective market awareness strategy, it is difficult to predict whether Celestica, Inc. will maintain this income growth. With the adoption of social marketing as a marketing awareness strategy, Celestica can easily out perform its competitors. This is because, social media not only provide companies with a way of reaching customers, but also a way for them to directly interact with their customers.Social Network CampaignSocial media is predicted to remain part of the human lives for many decades to come. Currently, marketers are allocation approximately 7% of their marketing budget on social media campaigns, with the number expected to increase to 18.8% by 2022 (Green, 2014). Another important fact to consider is the amount of hours most people spend on social networks on a daily basis. This has resulted from the growing availability of social network application in people’s lives. Companies such as Samsung, Apple, Microsoft and even Sony have made social media applications ready available in their mobile devices. As a result, people do not need to download social media application from third party in order to access them. The accessibility of social media applications has also been aided by their cost of acquisition. Being free, it means that a significant number of people can enjoy the benefits that are associated with these applications without charges.Trends in Social Media CampaignHow companies reach their audience is a question that is always changing for most companies. Google, which is the most known search engine worldwide records approximately 3.5 million searches in one day (Smith, 2016). Facebook has more than 1.70 billion users while Instagram (500 million users), YouTube (1 billion users) and WhatsApp (1 billion users) (Smith, 2016) offer companies with endless marketing opportunities. The use of social media to gain market awareness has increased in the past few years. According to the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, which was prepared by Stelzner, more than 96% of marketer are currently participating in social medial marketing. A whopping 92% identified social media as an important tool for their marketing campaign (Stelzner, 2015). The research also found out that social media campaign has been part of most companies marketing strategy for a number of yearsStatistics provided by Abramovich (2014) shows similar trends. According to Abramovich (2014) a significant number of companies are currently looking upon social media to acquire market share. In America, specifically, 42% of business in 2014 considered social media campaign as effective (Abramovich, 2014). This number has gone higher by 6% compared to 2013 36% (Abramovich, 2014). Another important statistic provided by Abramovich (2014) is 54% of companies consider leads generated through social media as effective. According to Mobertz (2014), 2013 saw many brands using social media to advertise their products and services, just to see how their customers will react. 2014, saw many companies getting serious about social media marketing. How Companies are using Social MediaCompanies are using social mediaStatistics depicted in graph 1 clearly shows different ways companies use social media and the percentage of how each method is employed.Graph 1: How companies are using social media (data obtained from Webbiquity, 2015)According to graph 1, it is clear that many people are turning to social media to report problems they have regarding various products and services. Brands are, therefore, harnessing this information and analyzing it, in order to provide their customers with products and services that meet the needs of their customers. Social advertising is another way in which companies are gaining awareness through social media. In 2014, more than 80% of companies advertised their products and services through social media (Mobertz, 2014). Other companies have also found real-time data provided by social media platform important for their marketing campaigns.Visual content, which is very popular in almost all social media platforms provide companies with better ways of showcasing their products to customers. Because of technologies provided by social media, companies are capable of showcasing their products vividly at a very low cost. This concept has made social media platforms like Instagram very popular in the advertising business. In addition to, social media has been tipped to emerge as a guide to the future of relationships intelligence (Mobertz, 2014). This is because, information provided by customers on social media can be used by companies to make sure their products are well equipped to meet the needs of customers. By doing this, companies are becoming more intelligent. Information collected through social media can provide the company with information, which will enable them to plan for the future.Effective Social Media PlatformsDespite being dubbed the future of marketing and advertising, not all social media platforms are effective. As Koetsier (2014) provides some social media platforms provide companies with more traffic compared to others. Some of the best social media platforms are Google+ YouTube and LinkedIn, because of the web traffic they provide. While Facebook has the most members, YouTube, according from responds provided by more than 250 million people provides valuable web traffic (Koetsier, 2014). YouTube has also been found to be the most effective social tool because of the time most people while on the site (Koetsier, 2014). Most YouTube subscribers are likely to view other videos that are available apart from the video that caused them to visit this site in the first place. Graph 2 shows different social media platforms that are used today and how much traffic they generate.Graph 2: Graph showing post-click engagement between September 2013 and February 2014(Koetsier, 2014)From graph 2, it is clear that social media platforms like Reddit and StumbleUpon have a higher average bounce rate, they perform very poorly in terms of the average time people spend on them and the number times they are visited. It is also critical to note that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which have a significant number of subscribers are in the mid table. Facebook and Twitter are playing catch-up when it comes to the average number of times the sites are visited as well as the amount of time people spend on them. On the other hand, while YouTube has the lowest bounce rate, it is the most visited site and also the site that many people spend a lot of time on.ROI of Social MediaCompanies will only adopt a certain marketing strategy if the strategy promises them a higher return on investment (ROI). Measuring social media ROI was one thing that Stelzner (2015) identified as important. This is because, if the ROI of social media is low, then this method will prove to be futile when it comes to gaining awareness in the market. According to Ray (2013), 41% of companies that have embraced social media marketing do not understand how social media marketing is affecting their financial gains. A research conducted by Syncapse considered the economic benefits that 10 companies enjoy by having fans on Facebook. Results obtained from this research are shown in Appendix 1.Results obtained from the Syncapse research indicates that by creating a company site on Facebook, a company is 28% more likely benefit from its customers who are also its fans on Facebook (Ray, 2013). Furthermore, companies are 41% likely to benefit from its Facebook fans that will refer their products to their friends (Ray, 2013). The Syncapse study also evaluated the value of a Twitter follower. In a month, a Twitter account with 33,000 followers is likely to generate a return of $1,667 even though $2,382 investment is required (Ray, 2013). This will result to 43% ROI, is due to low cost of followers and value of followers (Ray, 2013). Critically, social media ROI is significantly high due to the low cost required by companies to advertise on these mediums and the returns they provide. By having fans on Facebook, for instance, a company is likely to generate more income when using this platform than a company which does not have fans on Facebook. This is because, having fans on Facebook creates a basis on which the company can generate more customers.Conclusion/RecommendationsInformation provided in this report clearly shows that social media marketing is the direction that Celestica needs to consider. Results provided by different analysts and research clearly shows that, social media marketing is not only an easier way of gaining customers, but also a better way of learning and understand customer needs. The benefits of using social media include customer engagement, communication with customers directly, gaining feedback at an expedited rate, building brand, generating leads, reaching customers and even doing marketing research. However, not all social media platforms are effective. Some social media platforms while promise a greater bounce rate, they are really visited by customers.RecommendationsThe best social media platforms are YouTube, Googe+, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. By employing these mediums, Celestica will benefit significantly due to the amount of time customers spend on these mediums as well as the number of times people visit them. By posting their advertisements on YouTube, Celestica will increase the chances of their advertisements being viewed by many people. Twitter and Facebook will provide the company with the chance to create a fans base, which will grow with time. As a result, Celestica will gain a significant market awareness at a lower cost. Information provided on these mediums can also be used by Celestica to gain intelligence. This means, the company will be able to provide their customers with products that meet their needs.ReferencesAbramovich, G. (2014). 15 Mind-Blowing Stats For B2B Marketers. Cmo.com. Retrieved 4March 2017, from http://www.cmo.com/features/articles/2014/1/14/15_stats_B2B_marketers.html#gs.fu=JbAkCastaldi, C. & Giarratana, M. (2014). Diversification, Branding and Performance of Knowledge-Intensive. Copenhagen: DRUID Society Conference 2014, CBS.CLS: Celestica Inc Top Competitors and Peers. (2016). Financials.morningstar.com. Retrieved2 March 2017, from http://financials.morningstar.com/competitors/industry-peer.action?t=CLS&region=usa&culture=en-USContact Us | Celestica. (2016). Celestica.com. Retrieved 2 March 2017, fromFrommer, D. & Wagner, K. (2017). Twitter only grew by two million users during Trumpmania — Facebook grew by 72 million. Recode. Retrieved 2 March 2017, from http://www.recode.net/2017/2/9/14558890/trump-twitter-user-growthGreen, R. (2014). The Verdict Is in: The Future of Marketing Is Social. 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Retrieved 4 March 2017, from https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/social-media-trends-2017/Stelzner, M. (2015). 2015 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING INDUSTRY REPORT. Social MediaExaminer.AppendixAppendix 1: Amount spent by Facebook fans and non-Facebook fan (Ray, 2013)Dark blue color is Facebook fansLight blue color is non-Facebook fans